Zohar... what? who? why?

Before sharing Zohar's story - I would like to begin with the people that began this company. Specifically, the founder and artistic director, Ehud Krauss. My Mom, Daynee Krauss’ biography is to follow.

Ehud was born in Israel and moved to New York at the age of 25, after serving in the Israeli Army for three years and playing on the Israeli Olympic Volleyball Team.

Quite a resume and this is only the beginning.

Ehud moved to New York with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer. He danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company but decided he didn't like the company’s style. Because of immigration papers he was restricted to only two dance companies - Martha Graham and the Joffrey Ballet. After working with the Joffrey Ballet, he was granted a waiver to study with Alvin Ailey before heading back to Israel for six months with the dream of opening a dance studio.

I must note that these three companies are the Audi, BMW and Mercedes of the Dancing World and made up NYC in the 70’s, 80’s and to this very day.

Despite the success of the studio in Israel, Ehud moved to Mountain View, California following an offer from Richard Gibson (an important figure in the dance community) and then began work with the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in the bay area.

After two years at the JCC, numerous classes at public high schools in the bay area and great success with the community, Zohar seemed inevitable.

So in 1979, Zohar School of Dance was founded at Terman Middle School.

Attached is a photograph of my Father (Ehud) working with an Autistic child in 2007 – Information on his work with Autistic Children and other learning disabilities are to come!

Welcome To Zohar's Blog!

Hello!

I have decided blog about my parents' dance studio, Zohar, that will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in September 2009.

Over the past 30 years, Zohar has reached thousands of individuals through its dance classes and community outreach programs. It is unique because it reaches special constituents such as children with disabilities, incarcerated youth and children from at-risk communities around the bay area.

My goal is to use this blog to document not only the stories of individuals who have been touched by Zohar's commitment to the community over the past three decades, but also to explore the use of social networking and other forms of new media within a diverse population.

In addition to this goal, I will be working on the anniversary party which I hope will include a multimedia rich time line of Zohar's history. I think it would be fantastic if current and former Zohar students and community members were to post videos and even audio clips of their favorite Zohar memories which I will hopfully be able to mesh together into a final product.

Looking forward to jumpstarting this project!

Maile